McDill before immigration

The story passed to me thru my family of the origins of the McDills in America was that they were tinkers or gypsies who were transported forcefully out of Ireland after a coviction for horse theft. They were to be sold as slaves or indentured servants, but managed to liberate themselves somehow. Has anybody else heard this story, or have means of verifying it?C. P. McDill (born in Mississippi, my grandfather E. F. McDill was born in Arkansas)